IS THIS HOW RETIREMENT FEELS?

So is it? 

Is this what retirement feels like?

The thought hit me today. I don’t have a job. I don’t really ‘need’ a job as such to have a comfortable life-I’m living off an investment. I still have a budget that needs to be adhered to and I now have a routine that I have each day. My budget has been worked out to the dollar and I need to now stick to it religiously. Gone are my Odyssey days when I had a budget which I did stick to, to an extent, but now I need to knuckle down and the harder I stick to the budget hopefully I can save some money each week and then I can put that towards my flight home at the end of the year. This is where a job, a paying one at that, would be handy as that would definitely pay for a ticket back to Australia, otherwise it is hard saving to be able to see my ‘family’ this year. To complete the ‘retirement’ picture I am just missing other retiree’s-friends to share it all with and I guess hobbies. Don’t retirees have things to keep them busy? I am not sure really what takes up my day, but I manage to keep busy at home between watching cable, cross-stitching, the keeping of a hand written journal, organising and revisiting my Odyssey photos and a list of things that I want to get done like completing my iMovie’s, my blogging of course and making my place my home. The photo job is massive and very time consuming so now is the best time to be doing it. My first 6 months of photos on my Odyssey were corrupted on my external hard drive when I used a computer in Cuzco-Peru, so I went back to my original SD cards and just copied and pasted all the raw photos on to the hard drive, just to have a backup of them all. I am now revisiting the raw files and editing, cropping and turning them all so that they now match the following 15 months of travel. It is a massive job of over 10,000 photos and as a big job as it sounds it is great to go back over them and just appreciate what I have seen and done. There are some great shots in there, even if I do say so myself. So I guess there are a few hobbies in all that and if the above doesn’t sound like retirement I am not sure what would. I like the sound of it, but I am 38. I cannot retire at 38, by the time I was 40 I would be going a little stir crazy and besides I moved to help people less fortunate than myself and also [for a lifestyle change. So I have the lifestyle part down pat, now I need to motivate myself, get some internet and land me a job where I can make a difference to people. All in time, I know and I just need to make the most of my ‘retirement’! 

I messaged Shelly this week and I am getting boxes sent next week. I got Shelly to make a call to Jetta Express, finalise the details and the cost and what exactly is the procedure. I got her to ask if there are additional fees from this end, do they call me when the items arrive, where do I go etc….. so After looking at taxi Steven’s car, I reckon I can fit in 3 boxes and 4 stripy bags in the vehicle and they are jammed packed with creature comforts in the form of BBQ Shapes, Mint Slices, Twisties and lots more munchies, towels, sheets, a quilt, my sandwich maker, a cook top, some rugs that I have bought on my journeys, rice cooker (this will be handy), some clothes and books to name a few things and also not to forget my souvenirs. It will be like Christmas getting them all considering I packed them nearly 2 months before and it is the last of what is actually mine and was the only surviving items after giving away all my belongings when I was in Brisbane in December. I have told driver Steven about the trip to the airport and he said to just call him when they arrive and he will run me over no problems. Yeah I guess it isn’t when I will be paying 60AUD for the privilege. Oh well it’s another one of those things that I can’t put a price on and will totally be worth it. 

I haven’t been too proactive in getting out and about at this stage. I need to relook into the squash option. Do they have a weekly pennant? Do they have a social night? How much does it cost? I need to stay within my weekly budget and I need to work out how much it will cost to a taxi there and back. I gave away my squash shoes (they were near new) and my 3 squash racquets and bag, so I will need to hire them to start with and then if it all seems reasonable and worth the effort I can make a trip to the sports store at the Village Market and buy me some new sporting equipment. I should also drop in my resume to the travel agency at the Village, I have a few Facebook leads to follow up and get back onto the NES (Nairobi Expat Social) feeds and keep an eye out for things that are coming up. I really do need the internet, and I WILL get that done next week. I also need to start researching and getting all the departments of the UN, finding HR people, contacts, email addresses and getting my resume out there. I wasn’t going to start in earnest until I got back from London, but that trip isn’t until May and I think I may go insane if I wait that long, and it also may take months to get a bite, a niggle or a rejection, so I may as well strike while the iron is hot and throw myself into finding an NGO/Charity job whether it is volunteer, full time, part time or whatever they throw at me. I am enjoying the retirement thing, but it really isn’t much fun on your own-it takes time but I also need to make the effort. 

I made the decision to not take malaria tablets for the move. I figured that since I will be living here I can’t keep taking the pills forever and my immune system will just have to get used to the little black suckers (literally) and if I am to get bitten and get Malaria it is just going to boost the system and I will just have to toughen up. On my Odyssey I took the tablets for nearly 9 months, so I think that is long enough. I haven’t seen any mosquitos on my side of town and considering there are the banana plantations at the back of my place it is a little of a surprise, but then the 3 weeks I have been here I have seen 3 rainy days, so I guess the wet season is not here yet-maybe that will change in a few months’ time. While I am talking tough, I also decided to start drinking the water from the tap, no filter-straight from the tap. I did buy 2 massive bottles of water on my very first shop with GG and it is cheap here. The 18L bottle were only 400KSH (4.70AUD) so the price isn’t the issue, but to fill ice trays, water bottles for the fridge was just going to be a pain, so I started slow and had the local water as ice in my drinks and I am now having it with my cordials and I haven’t had any problems. The water is clear and it is actually quite tasty-so again my immune system has stepped up to the plate and I am now drinking the local water. 

As my apartment is new all the keys are in the locks of all the doors and it makes me nervous. If someone could actually penetrate my place which is like Fort Knox, they could easily lock me in one of the rooms and I could be stuck in there for days. So with 6 doors and they all have 2 sets of keys each I have labelled them all and popped them into a drawer for safe keeping. They really, honestly made me feel nervous. I also got a call this week that the replacement table that was broken in the move from the store to my place was in-so that was great news and I would pick that up on my next visit to the Village. Tuesdays are shaping up to be the weekly shop day and I am going to make Fridays my Masai Market day and this also gets me on the internet twice a week for now which is acceptable at this point.

This week I did my usual Tuesday run. I phone Steven, he was here within 10 minutes and I started at the internet café to upload 2 blogs, reply to some long overdue emails and Facebook messages. I also printed out 4 resumes after I had changed my address from my Australian one to my Kenyan one and I also added my local mobile number. I’m glad that I did up my resume before I left home as it is one less thing to worry about. It took a little while as I hadn’t done a resume for 12 years and it needed a little bit of updating! From the computer shop I went to the photo shop. I wanted to get some pictures from home printed out. I had selected 49 of my favourites and I will be pinning some of them onto my fridge. I have turned it into a large pin board putting quotes, photos and some postcards that I have bought over the world onto it. It makes me smile every time I walk past it now with the gals, my god-daughters and quotes that make me thankful for all I have and will brighten any day should I feel a little down or homesick. Next was lunch. As I have tried only a few of the small restaurants in the eatery I decided to check out the café and I saw they has steak on the menu and then when I read the name of the place Prime Cut Butchery and Bistro I realized that the café is owned by the same people that own the butcher next door, so with that in mind, I was assuming I would get a great piece of meat and I wasn’t disappointed. Add wedges, pepper sauce and coleslaw, it may seem mundane but after 2 weeks of microwave-able food, this carnivore was one happy Mazungu. LUNCH WAS AMAZING and the great thing was that it was only 900KSH, I guess for local’s that is a lot of money but for just over 10AUD and that included a drink it was the best piece of steak I have had in months. I was even able to finally get onto the free Wi-Fi of the centre and I was able to surf the internet for free over lunch and not having to pay for internet for once was quite liberating! I told you it is the small things that make a difference. A great feed and free internet I don’t think it gets too much better at this point. I finished up with my food shopping and I was lucky enough to finally find some curtains for the lounge room and also the bedroom and the best thing about that was they only cost 12 each! It was a bargain-they are great looking curtains! I’m slowly slowly (pole’ pole’) getting the small stuff and turning my place into my home. It will be so great to get my boxes next week that is for sure. 

So I will enjoy my retirement ‘time’ while I can. 

How many people at 38 (normal non millionaires) can say they are retired and living a life in Africa?

I am still thankful for each day-I am still living my dream and I know that as I forge a life here I will make the friends, make the difference and really settle in here.